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Minimum Requirements

Raleigh joins ranks of cities with no costly parking mandates

March 18, 2022 By Tony Jordan Leave a Comment

Raleigh, North Carolina became the 24th North American city confirmed to have eliminated minimum car parking requirements for most land-uses citywide. In a 7-1 vote on March 15th, 2022, Raleigh City Council approved a series of zoning amendments which flipped existing parking minimums to parking maximums, established bicycle parking requirements, and imposed environmental mitigations for any new developments which include excess parking.

The proposal was only lightly opposed with tired talking points from one community member and city councilor. But their admonishments and warnings were readily eclipsed by an excellent presentation from staff City Planner Jason Harden, well informed testimony by apprentice architect Jenn Truman, and fantastic supporting comments from Council Member Jonathan Melton and Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Stewart.

Jenn Truman testifies in support of eliminating costly parking mandates.

Staff and supporters of the parking reforms made the case that parking mandates contributed to the climate crisis and a lack of abundant affordable housing. Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Stewart made the case that ending parking minimums was not a radical approach, but rather was “listed as one of the lowest hanging fruit on recommended climate policy solutions” and is a “solution that costs the taxpayers nothing.”

Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Stewart supports parking reforms.

Innovative Mitigations for Excess Parking

Other municipalities should take a close look at the approach Raleigh has taken to parking maximums. Rather than set hard caps on the amount of parking new projects can contain, which might discourage or prevent developments, the city allows developers to exceed maximums, provided they take steps to mitigate the impacts of additional car parking.

In the urban parts of Raleigh, parking in excess of the maximum must be in a parking structure, 20% of it must be available to the general public or another property, and any requirements for EV ready stalls will be increased by 50 percent for these stalls.. These requirements aim to reduce runoff, heat effects, and wasted space.

Outside of urban areas, additional EV readiness is required for excess stalls and those spaces must either be in structures or contain landscaping and stormwater mitigations.

You can learn more about the specifics of the policy on the city detail page for Raleigh for our Parking Mandates Map or by watching Jason Harden’s presentation to Raleigh City Council.

Will Your City Be Next?

Parking reforms are sensible, simple, and effective policy changes to combat climate change, encourage abundant and affordable housing, and support cities with safe, sustainable transportation options for all.

Raleigh is just one, excellent, example of how to frame and implement a proposal to eliminate parking minimums. Learn about hundreds of other reforms to parking mandates on our map.

The Parking Reform Network exists to support advocates and practitioners in any field with “parking problems.” Support the network or become a member today.

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Filed Under: Activism, Map, Minimum Requirements Tagged With: raleigh

Bridgeport, CT joins growing list of cities with no costly car parking mandates

January 24, 2022 By Tony Jordan Leave a Comment

On November 29, 2022 the Planning and Zoning Commission of Bridgeport, the largest city in Connecticut, adopted the Zone Bridgeport code update, a comprehensive zoning update which included a complete repeal of minimum car parking requirements for new developments.

Bridgeport now joins a rapidly growing cohort of cities that have removed these requirements. The Parking Reform Network is tracking this process and other efforts on the Parking Mandates Map. Check it out to see how other cities have improved their parking policy and to see a detailed report on Bridgeport’s changes or to submit a report on your own city.

Cover Image of Zone Bridgeport Code update

Bridgeport’s zoning update comes in the context of a statewide reform effort led by DesegregateCT to enact more equitable land use practices. Earlier in 2021, the Connecticut Legislature passed HB 6107, and became the 4th state to enact state-level parking legislation, and the first to affect all housing, including market-rate apartments not near transit.

The Parking Reform Network is an international organization with a mission to educate the public about the impact of parking policy on climate change, housing, and traffic. The network provides support and a community for activists and practitioners in any field that experiences “parking problems.” Support the network by donating or becoming a member.

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Filed Under: Map, Minimum Requirements

Parking reform progresses in Raleigh, NC

January 21, 2022 By Tony Jordan Leave a Comment

On Tuesday January 18th, Raleigh’s Text Change subcommittee approved zoning code language that would repeal costly car parking mandates citywide and apply parking maximums for many uses. The next step in the process, which was initiated by Raleigh city council in June, is for the proposal to be heard by the whole Planning Commission in February, after which it would go back to city council for approval and implementation.

Reforms to car parking requirements are increasingly common. The Parking Reform Network is tracking this process and other efforts on the Parking Mandates Map. Check it out to see how other cities have improved their parking policy and to see a detailed report on Raleigh’s campaign or to submit a report on your own city.

Raleigh, NC Skyline Photo by Higgins Spooner on Unsplash

Raleigh’s parking mandate repeal would be accomplished by simply replacing the word “min” with “max” in the table of parking requirements, however the proposal does exempt many of the land uses from strict maximum entitlements. In the High Cost of Free Parking, Donald Shoup suggests: “If we want to reduce traffic congestion, energy consumption, and air pollution, the simplest and most productive single reform of American zoning would be to declare that all existing off-street parking requirements are maximums rather than minimums, without changing any of the numbers…”

The Parking Reform Network is an international organization with a mission to educate the public about the impact of parking policy on climate change, housing, and traffic. The network provides support and a community for activists and practitioners in any field that experiences “parking problems.” Support the network by donating or becoming a member.

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Filed Under: Map, Minimum Requirements

We Sorted Through Parking Codes So You Don’t Have To

July 12, 2021 By Tony Jordan Leave a Comment

Written by University of Illinois at Chicago students Maggie Kochman, Zane Jacobson, and Bobby Siemiaszko.

From January through May 2021, three students at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Urban Studies program (UIC) performed work on their end of year project with the Parking Reform Network. This project involved updating the Strong Town’s map of cities that have reduced or eliminated parking minimums; the students worked with Tony Jordan, Jane Wilberding and other PRN members to review, update, and more clearly synthesize the data into a new database.

The widely cited map hosted by Strongtowns is a great resource, but lacks direct code citations and detailed verified information.

The crowdsourced map on the Strong Town’s website was provided to the Parking Reform Network with over 180 cities, districts, or policies related to eliminating or reducing minimum parking requirements. All inputs were entered into a database using Google Tables and were systematically verified and reformatted by the UIC students. The general method for verification was to start with a city in the database without a report search “city name” and “parking requirements” or “city code.” Then find the parking requirements section of the city code to identify if there are exceptions to parking requirements, parking maximums, or notable reductions in minimums. The documentation process was to create a report for the city and fill in what kind of progress was made and then to create a citation with a link to the city code and a screenshot of the referenced section.

The improved dataset uses tags to provide granular information about the scope and magnitude of parking reforms.

The database had four main tables: (1) City, which stored general information about the City itself (2) Citation, which details the sources used, (3) Contact, information to connect with the individual who reported or researched the policy, and (4) Report, which the details of the policy were stored. Within the Report tab, several categories were created to better understand and delineate where each City stands in their parking reform process:

  • The status of the policy: (implemented, passed, planned or unverified
  • How aggressive the city’s policy is: reduced  minimums, eliminated minimums, implemented  maximums
  • Applicable land uses: residential, commercial, etc.
  • The magnitude of the policy: applied only to the city center, along a main street, adjacent to transit oriented development, or citywide
  • Specified requirements: was the policy implemented by right of the city, in lieu of fees, an affordable housing requirement, or something else

Each student worked with PRN members and then independently to fill out one line of information for each city. Oftentimes, multiple choices were applicable for the same city. For example, cities are more willing to reduce or eliminate parking requirements for a downtown district than for residential zones citywide. There were 58 verified reports of “City Center/Business District) reductions or exemptions, versus 29 citywide. 

As we went along, we realized it was not just a simple look up and fill in the data project.  Each city was and is its own entity and has its own way of doing things. There is no one cookie cutter way that cities are eliminating or reducing excessive parking requirements. Meaning that recording each entry was tedious, complex, and sometimes very difficult to find information. If you could find the City Code for the city, it was then a challenge to find the parking requirements. Some cities had comprehensive charts, others had detailed paragraphs, whereas others were very vague or sometimes too specific. To actually be able to choose the correct tags for each city was generally not an intuitive process. Looking at a city like New York with five boroughs and many different neighborhoods and associated requirements within it makes the process of assigning a uniform label  difficult, if not impossible. However, one thing is clear:  parking reform is gaining momentum–cities are lowering or eliminating requirements  where maybe 10 years ago were much higher.

This database was developed to  make it easiest for cities to adapt and improve upon their parking codes through the power of example and precedent. For instance, having a platform to search and identify r cities with downtowns that have eliminated residential parking could be an effective resource when presenting to a city council or the public.    This could then make a much easier argument if city X wants to become more like city Y, finding relevant information at a fast pace that is easy to compare between cities.  The more cities that have parking reform, the more the map can fill up and can pave a way for the future change of reducing and eliminating excess parking requirements. 


Editor’s Note: Since the UIC students completed their coursework, the Parking Reform Network has continued work on verifying these records. Henry Vorosmarti, a Research Intern from Case Western University is currently working with Ryan Johnson, a student at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design on the project. We’re planning to release the dataset and a new map later this year.

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Filed Under: Minimum Requirements, Research

Event: Tackling Parking Reform in Hawaii – Taking Down Parking Lots and Unpaving Paradise.

May 10, 2021 By Jane Wilberding 1 Comment

This free event will take place via Zoom on Thursday, May 20th beginning at 4PM Pacific (7PM Eastern).
To attend this event you must register here.

In February of 2021, the City of Honolulu overhauled its parking regulations for the first time in three decades, making history and eliminating minimum parking requirements. This was largely led by Kathleen Rooney, the Director of Transportation policy and programs at Ulupono Initiative, an organization that invests, educates and advocates to support locally produced food, renewable energy, clean transportation, and wise management of freshwater and waste in Hawaii.

Hawaiian Themed Event Details Graphic. Details are all in Post.

The Parking Reform Network will talk to Kathleen about just how she was able to achieve such a major policy change, exploring the impact parking policy reform has on the community’s climate and transportation goals, discuss the road to passing this ordinance, and highlighting lessons learned, successes, and more! 

Minimum parking requirements make market rate housing more expensive, reduce the number of affordable housing units, decrease the amount of space for non-parking uses, encourage people to own more cars and drive more, and disproportionately burdens the poor, old, young, and disabled, who subsidize transportation for the relatively more affluent. Eliminating minimum parking requirements is critical to parking reform in any city, allowing for more affordable housing costs, achieving climate goals, and creating a more walkable environment for all. 

Don’t miss your chance to hear how Kathleen passed one of the larger examples of off-street parking reform in the country, unusual for the size of the population it impacts and the range of geographic landscape it covers in Hawaii!

We’ll have a Q&A and breakout session with Kathleen after her presentation. 

This free event is made possible by Parking Reform Members, if you would like to support events like these join the network or donate today.

Registration is required for this FREE event. Click here to RSVP.

More about our speaker: Katie is the Ulupono Initiative’s lead on transportation-related policy and programs in advancement of cleaner, multi-modal transportation in Hawai‘i and reducing our dependency on cars. Her current projects include rightsizing parking policies and helping expand immediate transportation choices and access to those choices.

Kathleen Rooney at a bike share station, there is a #66 AIKAHI bus in the background.
Kathleen Rooney – Ulupono Initiative

She brings 15 years of national experience in the transportation and planning, combining both to advance community visions and goals in many diverse communities across the nation. For example, using a combination of analytics and storytelling, she helped two West Virginia towns strategize around health, leading to two trail program implementation grants. She also helped to conceptualize a resiliency center in Washington State, operationalize multimodal accessibility metrics in Florida, and develop a statewide transportation demand management framework for New York State.

Prior to joining the Ulupono team, Katie served as a project manager of Renaissance Planning in Orlando, Florida, and as a senior manager at ICF International in Washington D.C.

Katie holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Tulane University in New Orleans. 

You can support this podcast and a parking reform movement. Join the network or donate today.

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Filed Under: Education, Events, Minimum Requirements Tagged With: events, Hawaii, minimums

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